The present invention is directed to the field of health care, and more particularly, to a system for electronically administering health services for individuals provided by one or more entities.
Health services programs typically involve providing a variety of health related resources and content to individuals (users). Health services programs may address a variety of health concerns, such as weight loss, nutrition counseling, diabetes control, smoking cessation, pain management, stress reduction, depression counseling, addiction treatment, physical therapy, and the like. Resources for such programs may include providers (such as doctors, nurses, counselors, coaches) conducting live sessions with individuals, whether in person, by telephone, or otherwise, and individually or in groups; and delivering relevant content to individuals. Content may include: (1) informational articles (such as newsletters, reports, bulletins, recipes, exercises, e-mails, and blogs); (2) multimedia files (such as educational videos, pre-recorded webinars and audio tracks); and (3) interactive tools (such as health calculators, calendars, journals and trackers, such as for tracking weight, mood, exercise, and the like).
Health services programs may be tailored to individuals according to their age, health, gender and eligibility for benefits. With the recent implementation of the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, providing health services programs which ensure continuing/follow-on care for individuals is of heightened importance.
Today, providers may connect with individuals electronically (via the Internet), by telephone or in person. Providers may also deliver relevant content to individuals, such as via e-mail or websites. However, providers must typically operate within the limited framework of a host platform which provides such capabilities in a disassociated manner. For example, a provider may use a networked personal computer (PC) to access an electronic communication mechanism. The provider may then access a separate server to push content to the individual. Also, the provider may then access yet another server to record notes, update scheduling information and/or perform other administrative tasks. However, switching between these environments oftentimes leads to inefficiency and potentially risks update errors.
In addition, individuals may undergo multiple “change-in-life” events over time. Change-in-life events can include, for example, changing one's name, marital status, listing of dependents, employment, insurance, health status, and so forth. As a result, providing a health services program to the same individual over time, including tracking the individual's progress, is challenging. Adding to this difficulty, health information itself also typically requires security and safe handling to ensure patient privacy. For example, the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) establishes certain guidelines for the secure treatment of Protected Health Information (PHI).
What is needed is an improved mechanism for more efficiently performing the necessary tasks for administering a health services program. Also, a mechanism for providing health services program to individuals, despite change-in-life events, is needed.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present technology. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present technology.